1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to compiling and reporting data associated with activity on a network server and more particularly to compiling and reporting server data that is associated with commercial activity on a server using IP address filtering prior to data reporting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Programs for analyzing traffic on a network server, such as a worldwide web server, are known in the art. One such prior art program is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/240,208, filed Jan. 29, 1999, for a Method and Apparatus for Evaluating Visitors to a Web Server, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes and is assigned in common with the present application. In these prior art systems, the program typically runs on the web server that is being monitored. Data is compiled, and reports are generated on demand—or are delivered from time to time via email—to display information about web server activity, such as the most popular page by number of visits, peak hours of website activity, most popular entry page, etc.
Analyzing activity on a worldwide web server from a different location on a global computer network (“Internet”) is also known in the art. To do so, a provider of remote web-site activity analysis (“service provider”) generates JavaScript code that is distributed to each subscriber to the service. The subscriber copies the code into each web-site page that is to be monitored. When a visitor to the subscriber's web site loads one of the web-site pages into his or her computer, the JavaScript code collects information, including time of day, visitor domain, page visited, etc. The code then calls a server operated by the service provider—also located on the Internet—and transmits the collected information thereto. Information is also transmitted in a known manner via a cookie.
Each subscriber has a password to access a page on the service provider's server. This page includes a set of tables that summarize, in real time, activity on the customer's web site.
It is understood that not all activity on a web site is commercial or potentially commercial in nature. Instead, some visitors to the web site might be the web site owner's own employees that are only testing the operation of the web site. Such traffic is not important to the commercial success of the web page since such visitors have no intention of buying anything on the web site. Accordingly, the need arises for somehow obtaining a more accurate representation of commercial activity on a web server by only reporting activity on the web site from actual or potential customers.